Catch up on the essentials
- Anyone who receives a purchase email has 72 hours to complete the order before the reservation passes to someone else, and people on the broader waitlist are still told only that they may receive a reservation if someone else declines their allocation.
- Alongside the reservation change, Valve published the Steam Frame CAD files for non-commercial use, with commercial use still requiring direct contact with Valve.
- The reference repository also documents the user-accessible hardware expansion port on the front of the Frame, which exposes high-speed MIPI camera and PCI Express interfaces.
Selected from this article · 2026-10-11
Read on for the full pictureReservation timing split between 2026 and 2027
Valve updated the Steam Frame reservation page so that current reservation holders can see whether their headset is expected to arrive by December 2026 or at some point in 2027, with buyers placed in the 2027 window told to expect more detail by January. Anyone who receives a purchase email has 72 hours to complete the order before the reservation passes to someone else, and people on the broader waitlist are still told only that they may receive a reservation if someone else declines their allocation.
Steam Frame CAD files released for non-commercial use
Alongside the reservation change, Valve published the Steam Frame CAD files for non-commercial use, with commercial use still requiring direct contact with Valve. The repository contains STEP format models of the VR core module, head strap and controllers, and documents the location of IR tracking LEDs in the controllers so third-party designs do not occlude them, giving modders a documented baseline instead of relying on calipers or 3D scanning.
Hardware expansion port documented in KiCad and Altium
The reference repository also documents the user-accessible hardware expansion port on the front of the Frame, which exposes high-speed MIPI camera and PCI Express interfaces. A simple reference design is provided in both KiCad and Altium, extending the modding baseline beyond physical dimensions to a documented electrical interface that community designs can target.
Supply situation and SteamOS 0.4 context
Reporting describes demand for the Steam Frame as currently outstripping supply, framing the CAD release as a way for waitlisted buyers to begin custom accessories ahead of any confirmed order. The reservation and CAD updates follow the recent SteamOS 0.4 release for Steam Frame, which Valve described as bringing major upgrades to the headset, and together amount to a software plus hardware documentation push while the initial production backlog is worked through.
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